Methods of Identifying Flight Profiles in Aircraft Maintenance Operations

• US 20100010708A1
• Filed: 07/07/2009
• Published: 01/14/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 07/11/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Thales SA
• Original Assignee: Thales SA
• Inventors: Fournier, Francois, Peyrat, Stephanie, Bailly, Carine
• Granted Patent: US 8,682,508 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/35
• CPC Class Codes: B64F 5/60 Testing or inspecting aircraft components or systems
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 23/0235 based on a comparison with predetermined threshold or range, e.g. "classical methods", carried out during normal operation; threshold adaptation or choice; when or how to compare with the threshold

Abstract

The method of identifying a flight profile of an aircraft, the aircraft including a centralized maintenance system and an item of equipment including a component designed to measure the environmental conditions, comprises:

• a first step of collecting data measured by a sensor of the component;
• a second step of comparing values measured by at least one sensor with predefined threshold values so as to store in a resource the values that exceed the threshold values;
• a third step of comparing at least one set of stored values with at least one predefined flight profile, a flight profile representing a trend of values measured by a sensor according to at least one item of information defining a flight context;
• a fourth step of identifying the flight profile that is closest to the set of values stored for a sensor.

Claims

1. Method of identifying a flight profile of an aircraft, the aircraft including a centralized maintenance system and equipment including a component designed to measure the environmental conditions, wherein the method comprises:

a first step of measuring and collecting data measured by at least one sensor of the component;

a second step of comparing, using a computation resource of the component, values measured by at least one sensor with predefined threshold values so as to store in a storage device the values that exceed the threshold values;

a third step of comparing at least one set of values stored in step 2 with at least one predefined flight profile, a flight profile representing a trend of values measured by a sensor according to at least one item of information defining a flight context, each predefined flight profile including an identifier;

a fourth step of identifying the flight profile that is closest to the set of values stored for a sensor, the flight profile being called “

reference flight profile”

;

a fifth step of transmitting, by a transmission/reception device, at least one identifier of a reference flight profile, identified in the preceding step, to the centralized maintenance system.

2. Method of identifying a flight profile for an item of equipment according to claim 1, wherein the first step comprises the measurement of temperature data by a sensor.

3. Method of identifying a flight profile for an item of equipment according to claim 1, wherein the first step comprises the measurement of relative humidity data by a sensor.

4. Method of identifying a flight profile for an item of equipment according to claim 1, wherein the first step comprises the measurement of pressure data by a sensor.

5. Method of identifying a flight profile for an item of equipment according to claim 1, wherein the first step comprises the measurement of mechanical vibration data by a sensor.

6. Method of identifying a flight profile for an item of equipment according to claim 1, wherein the first step comprises the measurement of mechanical deformation data by a sensor.

7. Method of identifying a flight profile for an item of equipment according to claim 1, wherein the first step comprises the measurement of data concerning the number of SEU/MEU received by a sensor, SEU and MEU respectively standing for “

single event upset” and

“

multiple event upset”

, representing damage caused by one or more isolated particles.

8. Method of identifying a flight profile for an item of equipment according to claim 1, wherein the second step comprises at least one threshold value defining a maximum.

9. Method of identifying a flight profile for an item of equipment according to claim 1, wherein the second step comprises at least one threshold value defining a minimum.

10. Method of identifying a flight profile for an item of equipment according to claim 1, wherein the second step comprises the definition of a curve defining the threshold values that is roughly of the same form as the trend of the altitude.

11. Method of identifying a flight profile for an item of equipment according to claim 1, wherein the storage of the data processed in the second step is backed up by an RFID component.

12. Method of identifying a flight profile for an item of equipment according to claim 1, wherein the third step comprises the definition of a flight context by an item of information identifying the type of aircraft.

13. Method of identifying a flight profile for an item of equipment according to claim 1, wherein the third step comprises the definition of a flight context by an item of information identifying the flight plan.

14. Method of identifying a flight profile for an item of equipment according to claim 1, wherein the third step comprises the definition of a flight context by a set of data defining the trend of the altitude of the aircraft in a flight.

15. Method of identifying a flight profile for an item of equipment according to claim 1, wherein the third step comprises the definition of a flight context by an item of information identifying the positioning of the item of equipment in the aircraft.

16. Method of identifying a flight profile for an item of equipment according to claim 1, wherein the third step comprises the definition of a flight context by at least one item of information identifying the usage mode of the item of equipment, the usage mode of the item of equipment being defined by the set of actions carried out on said item of equipment.

17. Method of identifying a flight profile for an item of equipment according to claim 1, wherein the fifth step is carried out by a transmission/reception device comprising a transceiver sending and receiving information by electromagnetic channel.

18. Method of identifying a flight profile for an item of equipment according to claim 1, wherein the fifth step is carried out by a transmission/reception device comprising an electrical component sending and receiving by wired channel.

19. Method of identifying a flight profile for an item of equipment according to claim 1, wherein the centralized maintenance system comprises a centralized maintenance computer making it possible to identify the reference flight profiles received from at least one component of an item of equipment.

20. Method of identifying a flight profile for an item of equipment according to claim 19, wherein the centralized maintenance computer generates a failure report for each of the items of equipment by recording the identified reference flight profiles of the item of equipment.